Equestrian religion?

[Dreadmallon 353]

Doctor Whooves is athiest.

[Steel Accord 6,658]

Manichaeism, obviously.

 

Seriously speaking, their concept of religion is probably quite different from ours. What we might consider "supernatural" or divine intervention is quite a common occurrence for them; after all, their princesses control the cycles of the moon and son. From our perspective, it would be a pagan religion with an emphasis on embodied deities which control the whole of nature quite directly. Canterlot is perhaps the equivalent to an Olympus or St. Thomas Aquinas' concept of the City on a Hill (lol bob page); quite literally it is fixed on a mountain overlooking the entirety of Equestria. Much like in a classical tale, when things go awry, the gods (i.e., Celestia) descend from the mountain to restore order.

 

The Manichean reference being mostly a joke, there are some gnostic tendencies toward suspicion of the natural world. For example, the Everfree Forest is considered dangerous because it is not completely mastered by the ponies; it works according the rules which we generally consider to be the state of the natural world. As such, it is often a location which the ponies wish to avoid. The writers undoubtedly intended merely to have a location in which there were sufficient dangers and poked fun at the way Equestria functioned. But within the gnostic mindset, it might serve as a tale illustrating the disorder of the material world.

 

And let us not forget Nightmare Moon, the Sister of Darkness, versus Princess Celestia, the Princess of Light. Very dualistic. That's what led me to make the Manichean reference.

 

Of course, Applejack and Rarity, the both of whom engage in manual labor, break that gnostic trend. On the whole, the ponies are often judged by their deeds rather than mentally held attitudes. So, again, it is mostly classical in structure. If they had a normative religion, it would be based on finding a calling (Cutie Mark), being amicable toward your fellow pony, and, if possible, winning the favor of Celestia. Those are the norms with the pony society, it seems.

 

They do have funerals, as seen in "Hearts and Hooves Day", accompanied by a chaplain or minister. The appearance of a Christianesque minister was undoubtedly played purely for laughs, since we have yet to see any other religious officials in Equestria, if Celestia herself does not count.

 

Your's and sugar rush's appear to make the most sense, to me at least. Buddhism and Manichaeism. The Jedi appear to be a mix of the traditions of both Eastern (mysticism and meditation) and Western (chivalry and swordsmanship) monks, so it could be said that Equestria similarly strikes a balance between two otherwise very similar faith traditions. On a related note, doesn't it speak volumes for the shared philosophy of the brony community that we are politely speculating religion without it devolving into hateful garbage? Edited February 13, 2012 by Steelquill

[Starswirl the Trixie 974]

Manicheaism makes some sense, but a problem develops after the defeat of Nightmare Moon: There is no balance to Celestia. In fact, Nightmare Moon had only had power for...well...not very long. Upon her return, it was less than a few days. Unless a better hypothesis is developed for the nature of evil, I want to rule out Manicheaism/Zoroastrianism.

 

There are certainly some ideas of Gnosticism in MLP, but it lacks one crucial detail: Imperfection. Equestria is not only Utopian politically, but also "perfect" metaphysically. If I understand Gnosticism, it requires the universe to be quite imperfect. Perhaps Equestria is the state of the universe after purity is restored, but the existence of even a few scattered, small problems seem to eliminate this idea. Most notably, of course, there is no deity worshiped; in "Hearth's Warming Eve", ponies seem to admit that there was a time before the Alicorns. I also doubt that Alicorns are immortal, firstly just for practical reasons, secondly because part of me suspects that Celestia may be grooming Twilight for the throne in a future without Alicorns.

 

There is no religion in the show because there is no need of it.

 

There already exists no fear of death, a person's life purpose is governed by their cutie mark, and the "Dogma of Harmony", by which Equestria is run, provides answers to moral questions. In addition, there are no philosopher ponies to provoke questioning of customs.

Edited February 13, 2012 by Starswirl the goateed

[--- 41]

On a related note, doesn't it speak volumes for the shared philosophy of the brony community that we are politely speculating religion without it devolving into hateful garbage?

 

Yes! This has been a very fun debate to read. I really like reading everyone's ideas on the subject.

 

I find it funny that on other forums I go to and the average age is much higher, they/we simply cannot have a nice discussion (especially anything concerning religion) without someone getting rude or snarky.

 

Brohoofs for everyone!

[Steel Accord 6,658]

Yes! This has been a very fun debate to read. I really like reading everyone's ideas on the subject.

 

I find it funny that on other forums I go to and the average age is much higher, they/we simply cannot have a nice discussion (especially anything concerning religion) without someone getting rude or snarky.

 

Brohoofs for everyone!

 

There doesn't seem to be much in the way of debate even. We seem to have an unspoken acknowledgment that nothing about the specific religious traditions of Equestria will be elaborated upon in the series proper so it's just us having fun throwing darts at the wall and seeing what sticks. I've actually learned some things I haven't known from your and other's posts. Brohoof returned! /)*

 

Manicheaism makes some sense, but a problem develops after the defeat of Nightmare Moon: There is no balance to Celestia. In fact, Nightmare Moon had only had power for...well...not very long. Upon her return, it was less than a few days. Unless a better hypothesis is developed for the nature of evil, I want to rule out Manicheaism/Zoroastrianism.

 

There are certainly some ideas of Gnosticism in MLP, but it lacks one crucial detail: Imperfection. Equestria is not only Utopian politically, but also "perfect" metaphysically. If I understand Gnosticism, it requires the universe to be quite imperfect. Perhaps Equestria is the state of the universerse after purity is restored, but the existence of even a few scattered, small problems seem to eliminate this idea. Most notably, of course, there is no deity worshiped; in "Hearth's Warming Eve", ponies seem to admit that there was a time before the Alicorns. I also doubt that Alicorns are immortal, firstly just for practical reasons, secondly because part of me suspects that Celestia may be grooming Twilight for the throne in a future without Alicorns.

 

There is no religion in the show because there is no need of it.

 

There already exists no fear of death, a person's life purpose is governed by their cutie mark, and the "Dogma of Harmony", by which Equestria is run, provides answers to moral questions. In addition, there are no philosopher ponies to provoke questioning of customs.

 

Well there is still some dualism in Luna herself. While she's not evil, she still is the dark to Celestia's light. Equestria is also by no means, perfect. It's pretty dang idyllic but struggles still occur, see the conflict with the settlers and the Buffalo for the largest scale one. Though I DO believe the two Alicorns are immortal, I also like to think that Celestia is grooming Twilight for something big! Edited February 13, 2012 by Steelquill

[Envoy-in-exile 101]

There doesn't seem to be much in the way of debate. We seem to have an unspoken acknowledgment that nothing about the specific religious traditions of Equestria will be elaborated upon in the series proper so it's just us having fun throwing darts at the wall and seeing what sticks. I've actually learned some things I haven't known from your and other's posts. Brohoof returned! /)*

 

Well there is still some dualism in Luna herself. While she's not evil, she still is the dark to Celestia's light. Equestria is also by no means, perfect. It's pretty dang idyllic but struggles still occur, see the conflict with the settlers and the Buffalo for the largest scale one. Though I DO believe the two Alicorns are immortal, I also like to think that Celestia is grooming Twilight for something big!

 

It'll be interesting to have a MLP movie aimed at a more mature audience with an "alternative" behind-the-scenes story or with background interpretations fleshed out, but not contradicting the canon of the TV series. e.g.:

Wicked the musical - the Wicked Witch of the West is actually a good person, but her reputation is tarnished due to circumstances

 

Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story - Jack isn't a good person, giants are his victims (this is a pretty good movie - recommended!), the traditional story is a lie he told.

 

Snow White and the Huntsman

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY67V0wOlz8

 

It's quite easy to screw up though, so let's hope Uwe Boll isn't a brony...

Edited February 13, 2012 by Envoy

[Yellow Diamond 7,564]

Manicheaism makes some sense, but a problem develops after the defeat of Nightmare Moon: There is no balance to Celestia. In fact, Nightmare Moon had only had power for...well...not very long. Upon her return, it was less than a few days. Unless a better hypothesis is developed for the nature of evil, I want to rule out Manicheaism/Zoroastrianism.

The Manichean/Zoroastrian trend endedin the first episode with the defeat of Night Mare Moon. Nevertheless, the existence of Discord, the embodiment of Chaos, speaks to a possible cosmic dualism between harmony and disharmony. It just so happens harmony is absolutely pervasive in Equestria. As you indicated, there is little actual balance between the competing divisions.

 

There are certainly some ideas of Gnosticism in MLP, but it lacks one crucial detail: Imperfection. Equestria is not only Utopian politically, but also "perfect" metaphysically. If I understand Gnosticism, it requires the universe to be quite imperfect. Perhaps Equestria is the state of the universe after purity is restored, but the existence of even a few scattered, small problems seem to eliminate this idea. Most notably, of course, there is no deity worshiped; in "Hearth's Warming Eve", ponies seem to admit that there was a time before the Alicorns. I also doubt that Alicorns are immortal, firstly just for practical reasons, secondly because part of me suspects that Celestia may be grooming Twilight for the throne in a future without Alicorns.

More specifically, the physical world is imperfect. That is why many gnostic Christian heresies (e.g., Nestorianism, Apollinarianism, Docetism, Valentinus) taught, in one form or another, that Jesus was fully divine and possessed no humanity. To deny his humanity was to deny the perceived failures of the flesh. With respect to Equestria, there is no denial of the physical world; and thus it is not prone toward the entirety of gnostic thought. I doubt anybody would contend that the Alicorns are not flesh and blood. There is, however, an ordered and controlled universe (Equestria) governed by a supreme logic (Celestia) while there exists a world outside of Equestria which is generally considered to be dangerous. That has gnostic leanings.

 

If there was a time prior to Alicorns (i.e., Celestia and Luna), it begs the question of how nature operated before their existence. They are quite explicitly made responsible for the cycles of the sun and the moon, and the pegasi are in charge of the weather patterns. Furthermore, in the "Harth's Warming Eve" episode, the founders of Equestria are depicted as finally settling on a flag which illustrates Celestia and Luna. So that suggests their existence prior to that of Equestria's official formation. The reign of Celestia and Luna mimics classic tales---and that of the first creation account in Genesis---of the gods or deities mastering the disorder of creationin order to establish their dominion over the world. Thus Discord must have a prominent role in the pony creation story, whatever it may be.

 

There already exists no fear of death, a person's life purpose is governed by their cutie mark, and the "Dogma of Harmony", by which Equestria is run, provides answers to moral questions. In addition, there are no philosopher ponies to provoke questioning of customs.

The ponies don't seem to be afraid of death in the sense that we often seek to prolonge our lives and our looks. They do, however, have an awareness of danger and life threatening circumstances.

 

The only authorities of which we hear are magical ones, such as Starswirl the Bearded, rather than, as you said, philosophical or theological. Much like the Force in Star Wars, the power of magic seems to be universally recognized as the source of most things visible and invisible.

Edited February 13, 2012 by Thereisnospoon303

[Comet Tail 808]

....The Manichean/Zoroastrian trend... [...]

More specifically, the physical world is imperfect. That is why many gnostic Christian heresies (e.g., Nestorianism, Apollnarianism, Docetism, Valentinus) ...

Woah Wiki time, lol.

 

Anyways...

 

As has been said before, its a kids show, and they want to appeal to the widest kid's audience possible. For that reason war, pain death, anquish are all off screen...as is religion. The quickest way to loose a segment of your audience, is to bring in religion and politics,

 

Ponies are mere alegory for humans. they are us.

Celestia is the wise mother figure who nurtures and guides her little ponies.

Luna can figure into a lot of categories, but I like to believe she is the second chance offered to everyone who done bad...and she's loved for it.

The Princesses are all we will ever see of divisive Equestian politics, hidden behind a wise, benevolent dictatorship/monarchy.

Remember: The Unicorns handled the movement of the sun and moon before Celestia/Luna...That alone does not make the sister's dieties.

Weather control belongs to the pegasus race, so you can kiss off dieties of the sky.

 

Thus with so much unpleasantness happening off screen, Equestria comes off as a sort of Utopia. Making friends is easy. All problems are small and resolved under 30 minutes. Every story has a happy ending. Your leaders are always right.

With such a pleasant place, everyone wants to color Equestria to fit their idea of utopia. Its conservative, it's liberal, all the ponies believe or not as I believe.

 

That said,

As speculation seems to be in the spirit of this thread, I would draw a religious conclusion thusly:

Equestria is heaven. Perfect, Utopian, designed so life is always refreshing and exciting/never boring. Monsters threaten, but are always vanquished before they hurt anyone. no wars. Learning experiences abound. Frienship is magic.

The afterlife is eternally rewarding

 

I'll have to agree with that one. Equestria really does come off as a sort of heaven. To me, it bears a striking resemblence to the biblical account of Revelation, of God personally ruling the world for a thousand years.

 

It's not exactly heaven... They're still mortal (as we can see from their avoiding danger, running from Hydras, etc.), and not everybody gets along all the time (Gilda, Trixie, etc.). But they're pretty darn close to it. More like a Utopia, as Silverhoof said.

 

To me, that sounds like "Zion" in "The Millenium". It's still on Earth, so not everything's perfect, but it's really not far from it, and God himself personally rules the world, a benevolent, immortal, infinitely wise monarch, much like Celestia. In that sense, there's a certain Christian Element, which represents a large majority of religious individuals in the U.S.

 

However, there is some dualism in how Celestia and the other diety, Luna, control night and day. It's not necessarily good and evil, but they are opposites. In the very first opening episode, the symbol of the two even bears some resemblence to Yin-Yang.

 

And, to add evil, evil is disharmony, and Discord is quiet clearly the equivolent of the Devil. He taints individuals to be evil, and undoes all the work of the benign diety, Celestia.

 

To add a mythology element, someone mentioned how the Titans used to rule the world until the gods defeated them, took control, and created order. Clearly a direct parallel to Discord and Celestia, with the Elements of Harmony.

 

In a sense, you might could almost say the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are divine, since they're the force that has defeated evil again and again. Luna wasn't evil, Luna was possessed by Nightmare Moon, who was evil. It's not that night was ever evil, night never was, rather, evil invaded and destroyed order by possessing the diety that controlled night.

 

And, sense Nightmare was defeated by the Elements of Harmony, we can be fairly sure that Disharmony was the evil force, not Luna.

 

 

Hah, just noticed this bit: It's even more like Revelations: According to Revelations, Satan is bound, prohibited from having any influence on the world for that 1,000-year period. Likewise, in MLP, Celestia has imprisoned Discord in stone, where he has no influence on the world.

 

 

This is really interesting, there's all kinds of different religions involved here... Dualism, which is a sort of natural harmony. Harmony is good, and disharmony is evil. Celestia and Luna together represent harmony, while Discord is the avatar for disharmony, but is not disharmony itself.

 

I wonder if this means that Celestia isn't necessarily divine, then. Because Discord isn't responsible for all evil, he's just it's major avatar, much like how Applejack is the avatar for honesty.

 

 

Oh, my, is Celestia training her replacements? Think about it. In the past she's defeated Discord and Nightmare Moon, but now, she's failed both times and has had the avatars of the Elements defeat them, instead. She and Luna bear harmony of night and day, and the Mane 6 bear the spirits of Harmony of everything good (you could say friendship means any type of positive relationship, all good.)

 

Or maybe there's always been a 6, it's just the avatars for the Elements are mortal, and servents to Celestia, so when it says in history that "Celestia used the Elements", what it really means "to use the elements", is to use the avatars of the elements.

 

 

Sheesh. It's this kind of depth to the world that captured me in the first episode, you know. That opening video hooked me long enough to watch the first 3 episodes. This is why.

Edited February 13, 2012 by EASA - Dr. Braun

[Steel Accord 6,658]

Woah Wiki time, lol.

 

Anyways...

 

 

 

I'll have to agree with that one. Equestria really does come off as a sort of heaven. To me, it bears a striking resemblence to the biblical account of Revelation, of God personally ruling the world for a thousand years.

 

It's not exactly heaven... They're still mortal (as we can see from their avoiding danger, running from Hydras, etc.), and not everybody gets along all the time (Gilda, Trixie, etc.). But they're pretty darn close to it. More like a Utopia, as Silverhoof said.

 

To me, that sounds like "Zion" in "The Millenium". It's still on Earth, so not everything's perfect, but it's really not far from it, and God himself personally rules the world, a benevolent, immortal, infinitely wise monarch, much like Celestia. In that sense, there's a certain Christian Element, which represents a large majority of religious individuals in the U.S.

 

However, there is some dualism in how Celestia and the other diety, Luna, control night and day. It's not necessarily good and evil, but they are opposites. In the very first opening episode, the symbol of the two even bears some resemblence to Yin-Yang.

 

And, to add evil, evil is disharmony, and Discord is quiet clearly the equivolent of the Devil. He taints individuals to be evil, and undoes all the work of the benign diety, Celestia.

 

To add a mythology element, someone mentioned how the Titans used to rule the world until the gods defeated them, took control, and created order. Clearly a direct parallel to Discord and Celestia, with the Elements of Harmony.

 

In a sense, you might could almost say the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are divine, since they're the force that has defeated evil again and again. Luna wasn't evil, Luna was possessed by Nightmare Moon, who was evil. It's not that night was ever evil, night never was, rather, evil invaded and destroyed order by possessing the diety that controlled night.

 

And, sense Nightmare was defeated by the Elements of Harmony, we can be fairly sure that Disharmony was the evil force, not Luna.

 

 

Hah, just noticed this bit: It's even more like Revelations: According to Revelations, Satan is bound, prohibited from having any influence on the world for that 1,000-year period. Likewise, in MLP, Celestia has imprisoned Discord in stone, where he has no influence on the world.

 

 

This is really interesting, there's all kinds of different religions involved here... Dualism, which is a sort of natural harmony. Harmony is good, and disharmony is evil. Celestia and Luna together represent harmony, while Discord is the avatar for disharmony, but is not disharmony itself.

 

I wonder if this means that Celestia isn't necessarily divine, then. Because Discord isn't responsible for all evil, he's just it's major avatar, much like how Applejack is the avatar for honesty.

 

 

Oh, my, is Celestia training her replacements? Think about it. In the past she's defeated Discord and Nightmare Moon, but now, she's failed both times and has had the avatars of the Elements defeat them, instead. She and Luna bear harmony of night and day, and the Mane 6 bear the spirits of Harmony of everything good (you could say friendship means any type of positive relationship, all good.)

 

Or maybe there's always been a 6, it's just the avatars for the Elements are mortal, and servents to Celestia, so when it says in history that "Celestia used the Elements", what it really means "to use the elements", is to use the avatars of the elements.

 

 

Sheesh. It's this kind of depth to the world that captured me in the first episode, you know. That opening video hooked me long enough to watch the first 3 episodes. This is why.

 

Pinkie: "Hey! That's what I said!" You're stealin' all my ideas Doc! Still, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. (Not really mad, honest. I just mentioned the Book of Revelations in other posts. Oh and that was me for the Discord = the Titans thing.) Anyway, Equestria is a very strange fantasy setting indeed. When compared to the likes of Middle-Earth, Azeroth, or the Four Nations. (The former I'm somewhat familiar with and the latter two's lore I have a commanding knowledge of.) Where every aspect of ancient politics, high sorcery, and even plate tectonics is consistent and known, at least to the audience if not the characters; Equestria is very underdeveloped. This is to be expected, it's target audience won't likely care about trade agreements with the neighboring Gildedale ponies, or how the messengers of the Pronghorn Network get through customs. However, when you make the rulers of a single nation also responsible for the rotation that keeps the planet alive, explicitly through the use of magiks so powerful that they essentially are gods when compared to their subjects; you're opening the floodgates to questions on both government AND cosmology! As over thinkers, we are like Thor trying to drink the ocean through a drinking horn. (Obscure Norse mythology reference FTW! )

 

In my humble opinion, the Powers that Be in Equestria, whatever they are, whoever they are, and whomever they answer to. Are similar to the Force. George Lucas said that the Force is a synthesis of ALL religions, just that there is some sort of benevolent will at work in the cosmos. It could be that the Elements of Hermony are themselves like the Force, a pervading essence that chooses mortals to wield their gifts against evil and pull a Deus Ex Machina.

 

To elaborate on the "Celestia as God" at least in a story telling sense. Here's from another post I made.

 

"Indirect action, in my opinion, is where Celestia's character shines. (Laugh at the pun if you must. I'll wait.) Celestia's will doesn't need magic to be evident and real. She has so much experience and wisdom that she knows how and what to say or do at the right time to get the result she wants. In the pilot, when Nightmare Moon's return was nigh, Celestia sends Twilight off seemingly unconcerned about her student's warning. When all is revealed however, it turns out Twilight's assigned task of making friends was actually purposeful instruction instead of off hoof advice. You wanna really think about it, Celestia might have recognized Twilight as the Element of Magic from her first day and took her as an apprentice purposefully to free Luna. (Though, comparatively, that's cutting it pretty close to the wire if she didn't already have contingency plan.) Then there is sending Twilight back her Friendship reports when Discord had pretty much won. Celestia gave Twilight the resolve to save the world not by direct words of wisdom but just by reminding her student what was important to her on a personal level. Considering that much of the world is directly effected and controlled by the "mortal" ponies already, Celestia's intangible influence in starting, reacting to, and changing events makes her a better metaphor for God than raising the sun does.

 

If God, does effect the world in a story, a better way to tell that story is by having Him do it through people! If Celestia just waved her horn to solve every problem at hand, it would damage not only her as a character, but the quality of the show! In past generations of MLP and similar shows, the world is so simplistic and the characters so devoid of negative emotion that conflict is nearly non-existent. The Princess could very well invoke such a reality! She could scorch away the Everfree Forest, and remove failings from everypony's mind, yet she chooses not to. To create such a world, would make her just as bad as Discord, just by imposing absolute order as opposed to absolute chaos. No conflict, no resolution, no advancement. Complete saccharine stagnation! Celestia (like God) understands that people/ponies aren't perfect. That bad comes of free will, but if you are forced into doing good, the action looses it's meaning.

 

Celestia knows mortals are good at heart, they just need to find their way. As one who's been around long enough to know every roadblock and how to overcome it, she's more than willing to nudge her subjects in the right direction."

 

On an even brighter note. If Celestia IS training her replacements then, God willing, the movie might end up resembling this . . .

 

ME GUSTA!

​Something I just came up with. This just from a purely "fun with Christianity" train of thought and not a serious hypothesis. But looking at how Aslan of Narnia is Jesus, just in Narnia instead of Earth. Let's look at Celestia. She's beautiful, divine, associated with motherhood, and immaculate. Sound familiar?

Edited February 13, 2012 by Steelquill

[Comet Tail 808]

Pinkie: "Hey! That's what I said!" You're stealin' all my ideas Doc! Still, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. (Not really mad, honest. I just mentioned the Book of Revelations in other posts. Oh and that was me for the Discord = the Titans thing.) Anyway, Equestria is a very strange fantasy setting indeed. When compared to the likes of Middle-Earth, Azeroth, or the Four Nations. (The former I'm somewhat familiar with and the latter two's lore I have a commanding knowledge of.) ...

[...]

 

Right, it was you that I got the idea of comparing it to revelations from. Lol, sorry, I couldn't remember ^.^;

 

Lol, Azeroth, I just noticed you mentioned that!

 

And wow, the rest of the post (the part not in the quote) is really impressive! My thoughts exactly! Except you didn't still those from me.

[Yellow Diamond 7,564]

​Something I just came up with. This just from a purely "fun with Christianity" train of thought and not a serious hypothesis. But looking at how Aslan of Narnia is Jesus, just in Narnia instead of Earth. Let's look at Celestia. She's beautiful, divine, associated with motherhood, and immaculate. Sound familiar?

 

Aside from divine, and maintaining the emphasis on Christian stand ins, Celestia would then be either:

 

a.) The Blessed Virgin Mary

b.) The Church

 

All things considered, Celestia could effectively be the very embodiment of the community of pony faith, so to speak, which would render her something along the lines of the Church. But her power and authority suggests she's closer to a Greco-Roman pagan deity who is powerful yet not wholly omnipotent and omniscient; she definitely has limited vision, meaning she cannot gaze into your mind or, at this time at least, move through time. Even Discord was stronger than her in terms of magic---at least when she lacked the Elements of Harmony.

 

It seems the Elements of Harmony rather than Celestia might be the epicenter of the power which created Equestria as we understand it rather than simply Celestia and Luna waving their hoofs and making the world to their liking.

[Steel Accord 6,658]

Right, it was you that I got the idea of comparing it to revelations from. Lol, sorry, I couldn't remember ^.^;

 

Lol, Azeroth, I just noticed you mentioned that!

 

And wow, the rest of the post (the part not in the quote) is really impressive! My thoughts exactly! Except you didn't still those from me.

 

Like I said, I wasn't really mad. Really, I'm nothing compared to Thereisnospoon303 and Sugar_Rush and Starswirl the goateed. Those guys know what they're talking about, I wish I had that kind of knowledge, and ability to defend it. My theories are surface level suppositions at best.

[Comet Tail 808]

Like I said, I wasn't really mad. Really, I'm nothing compared to Thereisnospoon303 and Sugar_Rush and Starswirl the goateed. Those guys know what they're talking about, I wish I had that kind of knowledge, and ability to defend it. My theories are surface level suppositions at best.

 

Lol, yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about

[Steel Accord 6,658]

Aside from divine, and maintaining the emphasis on Christian stand ins, Celestia would then be either:

 

a.) The Blessed Virgin Mary

b.) The Church

 

All things considered, Celestia could effectively be the very embodiment of the community of pony faith, so to speak, which would render her something along the lines of the Church. But her power and authority suggests she's closer to a Greco-Roman pagan deity who is powerful yet not wholly omnipotent and omniscient; she definitely has limited vision, meaning she cannot gaze into your mind or, at this time at least, move through time. Even Discord was stronger than her in terms of magic---at least when she lacked the Elements of Harmony.

 

It seems the Elements of Harmony rather than Celestia might be the epicenter of the power which created Equestria as we understand it rather than simply Celestia and Luna waving their hoofs and making the world to their liking.

 

(The Celestia = Mary thing was just something I thought I would throw out there. ) That's pretty much the conclusion I arrived at. Celestia is both God and the Pope. The leader of the Faith as well as it's deity. (Not to mention the political power.) The Elements on the other hoof, are not visibly sentient, more like Brahman energy or a similarly benevolent but impersonal force. Remember the Elements weren't even commonly known, Twilight had to look for the ONE book that was actually about them!

 

The Princesses are worshiped, I think, for the REAL reason deities are. Not because of their power, but because of their lessons. As mentioned before, the ponies live in a world where many of the questions that plagued us for eons are already answered. This means the questions left over are more along the lines of morality. This is where Celestia steps in. Jesus and the Buddha performed miracles not to prove their ethos correct but as advertisement. Less "I can raise the dead. That means I'm right." and more like "I just walked on water, now that I have your attention I'd like to share something with you." Celestia encourages civility and closeness between her and her subjects and themselves. So between making their home so idyllic, raising the sun to bring the day, and being like a mother to everypony it's only logical many would view her as divine.

[Envoy-in-exile 101]

I have a simpler explanation which fits into the typical fantasy genre mythology. Celestia and Luna are pony "goddesses" but they did not create the world. They are simply the children of Harmony.

 

In the beginning, there was the chaos. Nothing made sense and no rules governing existence applied. Then Harmony came and created a paradise world where there was no chaos and things made sense. She created the Firstborn Ponies who ran the world in Her stead - regulating day and night, controlling the weather, being in total harmony with nature and keeping order among the other species She created.

 

The Firstborn grew arrogant with their power over time, however, and fought among themselves for power. The paradise that Harmony brought turned into a chaotic wasteland. Shocked, Harmony split the Firstborn into Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies and took away their immortality - without any single pony race with supreme powers, the different pony races had to work together to survive. Harmony could not bring Herself to "kill" all the Firstborn, however, and spared two baby Firstborn - Celestia and Luna. She took them back to her personal realm and affectionately called them "My Little Ponies". The mortal ponies were left to their own destiny for the time being.

 

The "death" of Harmony's Firstborn left Her with a permanent sadness, and soon Her sadness expresses itself on the mortal world, in the form of Windigoes who cover the Ponies lands in eternal winter, forcing the pony tribes on an exodus to found Equestria:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZpeG5NXB7c

 

Harmony was so distraught that Discord arose within Her. Harmony split, and Discord came out of her and went on to the pony world to begin his reign of madness. The remnants of Harmony became the Elements of Harmony (this is why the Elements can take out Discord and Nightmare Moon with just one hit).

 

Celestia and Luna were afraid and confused at first. What just happened? Finally, accepting themselves as Harmony's heirs, they took the Elements of Harmony and went after Discord in the mortal world. Defeating Discord with the Elements, they started their rule over the Ponies. Then, this happened:

[Steel Accord 6,658]

I have a simpler explanation which fits into the typical fantasy genre mythology. Celestia and Luna are pony "goddesses" but they did not create the world. They are simply the children of Harmony.

 

In the beginning, there was the chaos. Nothing made sense and no rules governing existence applied. Then Harmony came and created a paradise world where there was no chaos and things made sense. She created the Firstborn Ponies who ran the world in Her stead - regulating day and night, controlling the weather, being in total harmony with nature and keeping order among the other species She created.

 

The Firstborn grew arrogant with their power over time, however, and fought among themselves for power. The paradise that Harmony brought turned into a chaotic wasteland. Shocked, Harmony split the Firstborn into Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies and took away their immortality - without any single pony race with supreme powers, the different pony races had to work together to survive. Harmony could not bring Herself to "kill" all the Firstborn, however, and spared two baby Firstborn - Celestia and Luna. She took them back to her personal realm and affectionately called them "My Little Ponies". The mortal ponies were left to their own destiny for the time being.

 

The "death" of Harmony's Firstborn left Her with a permanent sadness, and soon Her sadness expresses itself on the mortal world, in the form of Windigoes who cover the Ponies lands in eternal winter, forcing the pony tribes on an exodus to found Equestria:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZpeG5NXB7c

 

Harmony was so distraught that Discord arose within Her. Harmony split, and Discord came out of her and went on to the pony world to begin his reign of madness. The remnants of Harmony became the Elements of Harmony (this is why the Elements can take out Discord and Nightmare Moon with just one hit).

 

Celestia and Luna were afraid and confused at first. What just happened? Finally, accepting themselves as Harmony's heirs, they took the Elements of Harmony and went after Discord in the mortal world. Defeating Discord with the Elements, they started their rule over the Ponies. Then, this happened:

 

Fillies and Gentlecolts, we have our Fanon religion and mythological timeline!

[Shreddy1957 0]

Me and My Friend - Zach - Have Come Up With The New Equestrian Religion!

 

Equestrianism   

 

Join Now And Worship Celestia And Luna!

 

And

 

Discordism   

 

Join Now And Worship Discord

 

If You Can't Decide We Have A Solution For That

 

Disquestianism 

[Doxus 14]

I'm pretty sure the ponies can choose to praise one of the alicorns as a deity (hence the phrase, "Oh my Celestia!") But if not than the ponies are probably Pantheistic.

[Steel Accord 6,658]

I'm pretty sure the ponies can choose to praise one of the alicorns as a deity (hence the phrase, "Oh my Celestia!") But if not than the ponies are probably Pantheistic.

 

By that, do you mean they would worship many gods, or they would worship everything? (I can totally see Fluttershy having that mindset.)

[Tao 6,758]

I'd think they would have some

kind of Goddess or God or many

and given how  big the world is,  maybe

other nations may have a religions

and so might other creatures like

the Griffons and etc!

[ThatOneComrade 1,091]

I believe they worship both Celestia and Luna. They used to have roughly the same amount of followers, but since Luna's banishment hers have diminished greatly. She's starting to get them back, but the majority of the population looks towards Celestia as their god.

[Doxus 14]

By that, do you mean they would worship many gods, or they would worship everything? (I can totally

see Fluttershy having that mindset.)

Well, if the alicorns are accepted deities of Equestria than in a sense, Equestriinites would be Polytheistic.

[A goat 323]

Of course there is, all hail Grogar!

[Steel Accord 6,658]

Of course there is, all hail Grogar!

 

Have to admit, with the inclusion of Tirek, seeing that old goat make a comeback as someone or something even more sinister would be awesome! 

 

[ARagY 1,152]

Celestia and Luna are worshipped so their religion is polytheistic. But in reality I think they're just figureheads with quite a bit of power, but not an ultimate god or anything. Think of it this way, as far as we know, the dragons don't even care about the Princesses, and we don't see griffons praising them. So I think it's more of a regional thing than an ultimate "I am your creator". Besides, gods wouldn't get hurt like Celestia did in Season.....4 finale?

I think... 

 

So yeah this is the same sort of ruler that the Egyptians considered their rulers to be, or something similar to that.